Great idea to write about/give a strategy for this, I've never seen this addressed before. What's unique about these sites is how rarely they actually do anything - they tend to be viral jokes, but they don't function towards any sort of business goal besides a nice add to the design portfolio. Part of that is cause that's simply required to get these to go viral - any sort of business mention causes it to crash and burn. But minimalism and a rough themeatic connection can serve to help, but we really haven't seen it consistently done other than for the purposes of a very cool thing to add to the resume, which can indirectly make a few people some coin.
Yeah, I was going to write about how the best ones tend to lack advertising or a blatant commercial purpose, and that's what makes them so sharable. People don't feel like they're just promoting some business's marketing campaign or helping some random guy make money off PPC ads.
Good writeup Jason. I also clicked on the rejection therapy post by accident... ha, that was hilarious.
Thanks! Let me know if there is anything you think I missed or got wrong!